KL & Partners, a South Korean private equity firm, has agreed to buy Kosdaq-listed cosmetics company Manyo Factory Co. that has been building its presence in Japan and the US, according to investment banking sources.
KL & Partners signed a definitive agreement on Jan. 3 to purchase a 51.87% stake in Manyo for 190 billion won ($130 million) from L&P Cosmetics. They will close the deal as early as February upon completing due diligence.
L&P Cosmetics is a Korean beauty unicorn specializing in face masks.
The private equity house assessed Manyo’s enterprise value at 370.0 billion won, a 47% premium on its market capitalization as of Jan. 3.
Manyo derives about half of its revenue from Japan, where its products are sold at around 6,300 offline stores such as Don Quijote, Japan’s leading discount store chain, as well as through online malls.
Its products are now hitting the shelf in big-name US retail stores such as Costco and Ulta Beauty, a cosmetics store chain.
Established in 2012, Manyo went public on the Kosdaq stock market in 2023.
It specializes in face wash products such as foaming cleansers and cleansing oils made of natural ingredients. It also sells basic skincare and color makeup products under subbrands such as Our Vegan and No Mercy, as well as Vanilla Boutique that produces cosmetics with vanilla-based fragrance.
In the first nine months of 2024, it earned 11.9 billion won in operating profit on sales of 96.4 billion won. In all 2023, its operating profit and sales reached 15.8 billion won and 105.0 billion won, respectively.
In positive response to the acquisition news, Manyo Factory’s share price skyrocketed 23.25% to 18,870 won as of Monday morning, versus a 1.18% gain in the benchmark Kospi index.
Its new largest shareholder KL & Partners, founded in 2015, acquired Mom’s Touch, a homegrown fast-food company, for 193.8 billion won in 2020.
By Ji-Eun Ha
hazzys@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.
